Desi uncle SAM(uel) and his bua ka beta CHRISTOPHER

published on July 27, 2006

 

 

 

 

Samuel Rajasekhar is our Desi Uncle Sam(uel). And his Bua Ka Ladka is Christopher. Samuel loves his nephew, Christopher. Nothing wrong with that. He will go all out to help him. Nothing wrong with that either. And each time, bending every rule in the book to help him. Everything is wrong with that. This narration traces to what extent Desi Uncle Sam(uel) goes to help Chris. And Chris gets what he wants in Desi Uncle Sam’s regime as Sam bends every conceivable rule to make his bua-ka-beta happy.

 

 

Christopher gets his Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Sciences (BVSc) from the Veterinary College, Tirupati. He joins as Lecturer in Sri Venkateshwara Arts College, Tirupati in the Department of DairyTechnology.  S V Arts College is an institution run on grants from the TTD, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. S V Arts college offers graduate courses like BSc, B.Com, B.A., etc. And is affiliated to the Sri Venkateshwara University, which  offers the Post Graduate courses and also churns out MPhils and PhDs by the dozens. Therefore, being a graduate college, there are no PROFESSORS in S V Arts College. Only Heads of various Departments, each one designated as Head of the Deapartment (HOD). This is usually by rotation and not a permanent title to the individual Lecturer.

 

It is public knowledge that when Christopher was made the warden of the S V Arts College Hostels, there were agitations by the students to relieve him of the responsibility. He was so ‘popular’ with the students that they did not even want him. He manages to serve the institution for some 12 years and as luck would have it Desi Uncle Sam becomes the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. And poor little chris wants to become poor little rich chris. He keeps nagging his Desi Uncle Sam for a post in the Government that he had set his eyes on for too long. Desi Sam like the Uncle Sam is benevolent to his faithful.  Christopher’s consistent nagging pays off and he gets the coveted post as the Secretary, APSCHE. And how?

 

 

Let us briefly examine the role of APSCHE. This is a body constituted by the AP Government to oversee, control and regulate Colleges and Universities of Higher Education in the State of AP. Here is my brief description of the responsibilities and the powers of the APSCHE:

 

1. To inspect, verify and grant licenses for Private Colleges of Higher Education (Engineering, Dental and Medical, for instance).

 

2. To grant permission to initiate new discipline in any college of Higher Education

 

http://www.apsche.org/resources.asp  – see MSc BioTechnology – a new discipline guideline

 

3. To monitor vacancy positions, sanction new posts, to grant permission and to fill in need-based vacancies in any college of Higher Education giving it a deadly handle on the roster system

 

for a complete impact of its functions: http://www.apsche.org/aboutus.asp

 

4. All the Universities in the State imparting Higher Education come under the control of the APSCHE. There are 24 Universities in the State. http://www.apsche.org/universities.asp

 

5. Has a major say even in the Appointments of Vice Chancellors to the Universities in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

 

6. The Vice Chancellors Conference is headed by the Chairman and the Secretary of APSCHE. The Secretary exerts great influence on the review of the monitary status of each University, the academics of the various departments of these Universities and only after the consent of the APSCHE the concerned University can start a new discipline of study.

 

7. The Secretary acts as the key personnel between the government and various Universities in the State.

 

The Chairman of APSCHE is only an Ex-Officio and a figure head of the body, while it is the Secretary who is all important official who has such sweeping powers vested with him that if a Joint Inspection committee set up by the body after careful field assessment submits an adverse report on a new college project, the Secretary can Veto the Joint Inspection committee’s findings and issue the required permissions. Alternatively, the Secretary has the right to confine this committee’s report to trash and form a new Joint Inspection Committee in place of the one which gave an adverse report and can get things done the way he wants. In short, it is in the hands of the Secretary that the fate of the entire Higher Education in Andhra Pradesh lies. 

 

 

As per the Government rules in existence at that point of time Chris was not qualified to be the Secretary of APSCHE. However, he started pressing Samuel hard for the post. The Secretary of APSCHE should be a Professor with impeccable educational credentials. (Chris is NOT a professor, but only a lecturer in a Degree College). He had no experience of teaching Post Graduate students, as he was just a lecturer in S V Arts college which offered only graduate courses. Naturally, he had no experience of being a guide to research scholars. Nether did he obtain a Phd in his career to advance his academic growth. In short, he was far too short of the requirements to occupy the seat of the Secretary of APSCHE. Yet, he set his greedy eyes on the post. And like a child, kept nagging his Uncle Sam. And what did Sam do to please this Bua-Ka-Beta?

 

 

 

Just two months into power, Samuel did something that would make even Karunanidhi look like a kindergarten back-bencher in nepotism.

 

 

 

 

4. Based on this the S V University makes him a “Reader” in S V Arts College, where hitherto no such post existed because it is only a collage churning out BScs and BComs etc.,

 

 

It is still a matter of great mystery, as mysterious as the mythical Jesus, in Educational circles in Andhra Pradesh how a graduate can get a PhD without doing his Post Graduation. And his doctoral subject and thesis (if there was one) is a point of curious debate in the corridors of various Universities in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

 

 

In a matter of days after Samule’s assumption of the Gaddi of the CM of AP, Chris gets his doctorate, is made a “Reader”, the Government passes a G.O. devaluing the criteria for appointment of candidates for the post of Secretary, APSCHE. And Litle Christopher is anointed the Secretary, APSCHE. He is then sent on deputation by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to be the Secretary of APSCHE, Hyderabad from S V Arts College, Tirupati.

 

Take a look at this, the Chairman and the two Vice Chairmen are Professors, while Christopher is a non-Professor:

 

 

 

Under 6 months of Samuel’s anointment to the throne of Andhra Pradesh, the Bua-ka-Beta is annointed as the Secretary, APSCHE.

 

The christists are great educationists, indeed. There are so many such lessons to learn from them.

 

That is the level the christists can go to gain control of the Higher Education System in the State.

 

The pity is that each one of the 24 Vice Chancellors are better qualified and certainly more experienced than Christopher. And they have to listen with bated breaths, each word he utters during the VC Conference. And it is also widely talked about that these days the office of the Vice Chancellor often goes to the highest bidder.